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EASTERN BAY OF PLENTY
Moutohora Island unrecognisable from three decades ago The last time I stepped ashore at Moutohora (Whale) Island, its flanks were almost bare of vegetation, other than a few hardy pohutukawa and small stands of bush. And its most abundant wildlife was hundreds, if not thousands, of rabbits. Thirty-seven years later the 143-hectare island off Whakatane’s coast is cloaked in lush native bush, its canopy filled with native birds – and, there’s not a rabbit in sight. The difference three-plus decades and thousands of hours of pest eradication and replanting have made is truly impressive. Back in the late-1970s while working at the ‘Whakatane Beacon’ I spent a
couple of weekends on Moutohora – commonly called Whale Island – with dolphin researchers Des Crosland and Ramari Stewart, who, with the permission of the then island owner Mick Orchard, and the wildlife division of Internal Affairs, had erected a small hut near Boulder Bay. From there they made trips in their five-metre catamaran Interlock Two to record and observe the activities of a resident population of dolphins as part of a research project coordinated by Wade and Jan Doak of Tutukaka, Northland.
The view from the saddle of Moutohora Island out to White Island is impressive.
Orca and dolphins
Aboard Interlock Two, I was fortunate to enjoy a very close encounter with the dolphins and their young; and on another occasion an up-close inspection from a bull orca, which
swam to the small craft before diving beneath its hull, causing not a ripple but demonstrating he was far longer than the yacht. He may or may not have been attracted by the music of Pink Floyd, which Des was playing through the yacht’s hull. But whatever the cause of his deviation to check us out – he soon rejoined the two females he was accompanying.
Seal colony
www.national.org.nz
In October this year I made the trip back to Moutohora on a much larger vessel The Moutohora Cat – operated by White Island Tours and skippered that day by David Plews with guide Fiona Coulter. It’s just a short 10 to 15-minute trip, first across the Whakatane’s bar, then to the island where we stopped to view seals resting on rocks on the island’s western side. A few minutes later Dave nosed
Moutohora Cat onto the beach at Boulder Bay, and we alighted by way of a ladder over the bow. Fiona took our small party on a guided walk of the island, so radically changed from that I had known, it was impossible to identify where Des and Ramari’s hut had been. There is, however, a Department of Conservation hut close to the bay where staff and volunteers stay to carry out work or research. Fiona has stayed there as part of a fire watch team in the past.
Pa site
She explained the island’s original native vegetation and wildlife had been largely destroyed by human activity and by feral animals including goats, rabbits, rats and cats. The island, a remnant volcanic cone that has eroded away to leave its two distinct peaks, has a number of significant archaeological sites including an
extensive pa. In the 1830s a shore-based whaling station was established but the venture failed without a single whale being captured. Forty years later sulphur was extracted from the island’s still active geothermal area but was of such poor quality the venture was abandoned in 1895. The next phase of industrial activity came in 1915, when quarrying provided rock for the construction of the Whakatane Harbour wall. A total of 26,000 tonnes of rock was removed during five years. In 1965 Moutohora was declared a wildlife refuge and the island was bought by the Crown in 1984.
Threatened species
The most significant feature of Moutohora’s current fauna is the breeding colony of grey-faced petrels. ...continued